A Thousand Words for Stranger: Trade Pact Universe, Book 1

This debut science fiction novel is the story of Sira--a woman on the run from the law, from her own people, and from an unknown figure determined to use her for his own ends. Her memory taken from her by a stasis block, she must stay free long enough to regain both her identity and the full use of her telepathic powers. The price of failure may not only be the loss of her own future, but that of her entire race.

Spells of Old: Ancient Dreams, Book 2

Having successfully driven off an assault and freed captives of Kelvanis, Sistina begins fortifying to defend those she cares about from further attacks. Yet with all her power within her halls, she cannot grant those under her protection true freedom. To truly bring hope to her love, Sistina must delve into who she once was, and bring forth every scrap of magic she has to become a shining beacon of hope. Sadly, Kelvanis' plans are only mildly impeded by her efforts up until now, and they will stop at nothing to bring their ends about.

The Left Hand of Darkness

A groundbreaking work of science fiction, The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants can change their gender. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the completely dissimilar culture that he encounters. Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement.

A Turn of Light

The village of Marrowdell is an isolated pioneer community, but it is also the place where two worlds overlap, and at the turn of light - sunset - the world of magic known as the Verge can briefly be seen.

Ancient Ruins: Ancient Dreams, Book 1

Sistina awakened after millennia of dormancy, her memories in tatters and born anew. Residing in the ruins of an ancient city, she finds herself drawn into a war between two elven nations and the slaver kingdom of Kelvanis when she rescues a princess from slavery. With her domain containing hints of forgotten knowledge, Sistina becomes a dungeon, stronghold, and source of hope all at once. And perhaps, just perhaps, she could finally find love in her new life.

This Gulf of Time and Stars: Reunification, Book 1

I’d lived on a starship long enough to value the small sounds the Fox made: the whoosh of air through vents, the bone-deep growl of lift engines, and the reassuring almost-whine that meant not only gravity, but that we were moving through subspace under power. Sound meant we were safe and all was well. Silence meant the opposite....

Crystal Soldier: Liaden Universe Books of Before, Book 1

Centuries in the past, mankind fought a seemingly unbeatable adversary from sector to sector across the Spiral Arm until the war ground to a standstill and the Enemy withdrew. Believing that they had won, the citizens of the galaxy rebuilt. The Inner Worlds, which had escaped the worst of the war's ravages, became even more insular, while the Rim worlds adopted a free and easy way with law and order. Now, hundreds of years after their withdrawal, the Enemy is back - and this time they'll be satisfied with nothing less than the extinction of the galaxy.

Perilous Waif: Alice Long, Book 1

My name is Alice Long, and I've always known I was different. When I was little I used to climb up to the highest branches of the housetree at night, and watch the starships docking at the orbital stations high above. Forty meters off the ground, watching ships 30,000 kilometers overhead, with senses that could pick out radar pings and comm chatter as easily as the ships themselves. It all seemed perfectly natural at the time.

Forging Hephaestus: Villains' Code Series, Book 1

Gifted with meta-human powers, Tori Rivas kept away from the limelight, preferring to work as a thief in the shadows. But when she's captured trying to rob a vault that belongs to a secret guild of villains, she's offered a hard choice: prove she has what it takes to join them or be eliminated. Apprenticed to one of the world's most powerful (and supposedly dead) villains, she is thrust into a strange world where the lines that divide superheroes and criminals are more complex than they seem.

Good Intentions

He knew it was a dumb stunt from the start. A midnight run through a cemetery to impress a couple of girls is hardly the stuff of legend, but Alex Carlisle longs to escape the crushing mediocrity of life after high school. Then he stumbles upon the ritual, and the cultists, and two bound and bloodied women. Alex intervenes and the ritual blows up in his face, leaving him bound to them both: Rachel and Lorelei, an angel and a succubus.

Fluency

NASA discovered the alien ship lurking in the asteroid belt in the 1960's. They kept the Target under intense surveillance for decades, letting the public believe they were exploring the solar system, while they worked feverishly to refine the technology needed to reach it. Dr. Jane Holloway is content documenting nearly-extinct languages and had never contemplated becoming an astronaut. But when NASA recruits her to join a team of military scientists for an expedition to the Target, it's an adventure she can't refuse.

Dungeon Born: Divine Dungeon Series, Book 1

For eons, conquering dungeons has been the most efficient way to become a strong adventurer. Although not everything is as straightforward as it seems. Several questions have always plagued the minds of those who enter these mythical places of power: why are there so many monsters? Where do the amazing weaponry and heavy gold coins come from? Why does the very air fill with life-giving energies? Cal has all of the answers to these age-old questions, for a very simple reason. He is a Dungeon Heart.

The Found and the Lost: The Collected Novellas of Ursula K. Le Guin

Every novella by Ursula K. Le Guin, an icon in American literature, collected for the first time - and introduced by the legendary author - in one breathtaking volume. Ursula K. Le Guin has won multiple prizes and accolades, from the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters to the Newbery Honor, Nebula, Hugo, World Fantasy, and PEN/Malamud awards. She has had her work collected over the years but never as a complete retrospective of her longer works.

The Fifth Season: The Broken Earth, Book 1

This is the way the world ends. For the last time. A season of endings has begun. It starts with the great, red rift across the heart of the world's sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun. It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter. It starts with betrayal and long-dormant wounds rising up to fester. This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the Earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy.

Scrapyard Ship: Scrapyard Ship, Book 1

Lieutenant Commander Jason Reynolds has had a string of bad luck lately - evident by the uncomfortable house arrest bracelet strapped to his right ankle. Worse yet, he's relegated to his grandfather's old house and rambling scrapyard. To complicate things, the women in his life are pulling from every direction. But it's through a bizarre turn of events that Jason is led to a dried up subterranean aquifer hundreds of feet below ground. Here he discovers an advanced alien spacecraft, one that will propel his life in a new direction.

Dark Horse: Class 5 Series, Book 1

Rose McKenzie may be far from Earth with no way back, but she's made a powerful ally - a fellow prisoner with whom she's formed a strong bond. Sazo's an artificial intelligence. He's saved her from captivity and torture, but he's also put her in the middle of a conflict, leaving Rose with her loyalties divided. Captain Dav Jallan doesn't know why he and his crew have stumbled across an almost legendary Class 5 battleship, but he's not going to complain. The only problem is, all its crew are dead - all except for one strange, new alien being.

Dead Witch Walking

Rachel Morgan is a runner with the Inderland Runner Services, apprehending law-breakers throughout Cincinnati. She's also a witch, one of the many Inderlanders who revealed themselves after a genetically engineered virus wiped out 50 percent of humanity. Witches, warlocks, vampires, werewolves: the creatures of dreams and nightmares have lived beside humans for centuries, hiding their powers. But now they've stopped hiding, and nothing will be the same.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet: Wayfarers 1

Firefly meets Mass Effect in this thrilling self-published debut! When Rosemary Harper joins the crew of the Wayfarer, she isn't expecting much. The Wayfarer, a patched-up ship that's seen better days, offers her everything she could possibly want: a small, quiet spot to call home for a while, adventure in far-off corners of the galaxy, and distance from her troubled past. But Rosemary gets more than she bargained for with the Wayfarer.

Foreigner: Foreigner Sequence 1, Book 1

The first book in C.J.Cherryh's eponymous series, Foreigner begins an epic tale of the survivors of a lost spacecraft who crash-land on a planet inhabited by a hostile, sentient alien race. From its beginnings as a human-alien story of first contact, the Foreigner series has become a true science fiction odyssey, following a civilization from the age of steam through early space flight to confrontations with other alien species in distant sectors of space. It is the masterwork of a truly remarkable author.

David &amp; Barbara Allen says:"Good store but certainly a different kind of scifi"

Too Like the Lightning: Terra Ignota, Book 1

Mycroft Canner is a convict. For his crimes he is required, as is the custom of the 25th century, to wander the world being as useful as he can to all he meets. Carlyle Foster is a sensayer - a spiritual counselor in a world that has outlawed the public practice of religion, but which also knows that the inner lives of humans cannot be wished away.

Schooled in Magic

Emily is a teenage girl pulled from our world into a world of magic and mystery by a necromancer who intends to sacrifice her to the dark gods. Rescued in the nick of time by an enigmatic sorcerer, she discovers that she possesses magical powers and must go to Whitehall School to learn how to master them. There, she learns that the locals believe she is a "Child of Destiny" - someone whose choices might save or damn their world, a title that earns her both friends and enemies.

Falling Free

Leo Graf was just your average highly efficient engineer: mind your own business, fix what's wrong, and move on to the next job. But all that changed on his assignment to the Cay Habitat, where a group of humanoids had been secretly, commercially bioengineered for working in free fall. Could he just stand there and allow the exploitation of hundreds of helpless children merely to enhance the bottom line of a heartless mega-corporation?

Techromancy Scrolls: Adept

Almost 3,000 years after an extinction-level event on Earth, mankind seeks to regain its former glory, in a new world where magic and technology collide. Laney Herder, a commoner in the realm of Wexbury, finds herself thrust into the world of nobles and knights. At the side of her Lady Celeste, Knight of the Realm, she goes on an epic journey from being a simple chicken farmer to one of the greatest heroes of the realm, while helping the Lands of Sparo avoid a second Great Mage War.

Outsystem: The Intrepid Saga, Book 1

Major Richards needs to get out of the Sol System. Demoted by the military and hung out to dry, the media labels her the Butcher of Toro. Despite her soiled record, Tanis still one of the best military counterinsurgency officers in the Terran Space Force. They need her to find the terrorists responsible for trying to destroy the GSS Intrepid, a massive interstellar colony ship in the final phases of construction at the Mars Outer Shipyards.

Publisher's Summary

They are the last survivors of their race, beings who live on and communicate through energy, who are capable of assuming the shape of any other species. When their youngest member is assigned to a world considered safe to explore, she is captured by the natives. To escape, she must violate the most important rule of her kind, and reveal the existence of her species to a fellow prisoner - a human being.

Now her race is in danger of extinction, for even if the human does not betray her, the Enemy who has long searched for her people may finally discover their location.

I was thrilled beyond words to find books by Julie Czerneda finally available on Audible. I chose Beholder's Eye because I had not read any of the Esen books yet. The story everything I expect from the talented Czerneda, with fascinating characters and settings, and sly bits of humor when you least expect it. I will have to buy the book as well now; it was just that good.

The narration was equal to the story. Luci Christian Bell did a wonderful job keeping the characters separate, even Esen in her many forms sounding different, but still Esen!

I highly recommend this audiobook. Just don't try to listen to it and work, because you won't get much work done!

Would you consider the audio edition of Beholder's Eye to be better than the print version?

The audio version is great for sharing with the whole family. We tried to recommend the book to my sons, but they never bothered to try it. When we popped it in on a family road trip, that's when they finally understood. We are all looking forward to the next opportunity for family listening so we can continue the saga. <br/>The book is also good, though. My copy is a well worn friend.

What other book might you compare Beholder's Eye to and why?

Incomparable. But, it's a good fantasy story, for people with plenty of imagination. The intellect and morals embraced by the main character sit very well with me. The twists and turns are clever and often surprising.

Have you listened to any of Luci Christian Bell’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Have not heard any others from Ms. Bell.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

That would be a spoiler, but yes, there are more than one. Esen-alit-Quar is one whose personal values and moral choices are unwavering in the face of many difficult moments.

Any additional comments?

This story deserves to be on all the recommended reading lists. A classic, sitting proudly beside the greatest masterpieces.

I'm a very sexist being, and while I reckon that women can write excellent romances, complex plots and even space operas (e.g., Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan saga), till this day I have always dreaded the lack of "technical enthusiasm" that goes with the girls, and specially, the girls which are capable writers. Without the what-if of a scientific or technological issue, a sci-fi book is a table lacking three legs. So I was very apprehensive when I got this book, and my apprehension went all the way to dismay when I perceived that the reader was also a girl with a voice tone better suited for a reading of "Romeo and Juliet".

I was wrong. Luci Christian Bell, the reading voice, is extremely capable, and in this book she matched the multiple species and personalities covered by the story and the protagonist very well, sounding at times polite and refined, wild and hoarse, smart, dumb, or outright cow-ish, depending in the story's moment.

The story itself is nicely deep and contained, with enough of what I was looking for. For example, the author explores the interesting sci-fi question of "what would happen if I could remember things as being you". Furthermore, she mixes-in core humanistic issues, like sentience, xeno-engagement, and how do we assess things or people to feel us part of them or to reject them. All of that complemented with a diverse but sharp assortment of characters, that thanks to the skills of the author and the voice we can frequently enjoy as first-person, each time with a unique species-perspective.

The book has some minor flaws, but then I think that a solution for those would have been worse than the flaws themselves. For example, a deeper story would have required a longer and less fun book, thus reducing the amount of joy per page. So, all in all, I have truly enjoyed this book and think is on pair or better than many I have read from very good male sci-fi authors. I dearly recommend it!

This is the second Czerneda novel I've read, the first being a Thousand Words for Stranger. Having said that I can't see myself ever picking up the rest of either of their respective series.

Czerneda has an absolutely fantastic imagination, the worlds she creates are most impressive. The problem is I can't stand the characters she places in them. She has some of the most absolutely one sided characters I have ever read about. Her villains are the absolute worst of the bunch. Having a 'bad' villain really just kills the entire story for me. It surprises me to no end how she has consistently let me down and how I kept reading on despite this. This will be the last book of her's I will read.

Luci Christian Bell was an excellent narrator and I wouldn't hesitate listening to her again.